Entries tagged with 'history'
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washingtoncitypaper.com Ben Franklin once wrote his daughter to share his love for a certain feathered bird: For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly...For the Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America. As Tim Carman of the Washington City Paper notes, Franklin was also concerned with tenderizing this wattle-bearing poultry. His favorite method? Electrocution. “Birds killed in this manner eat uncommonly tender,” he wrote. Maybe not the first thing you pictured in Thanksgiving cooking techniques....
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On Fridays, Deb Harkness of Good Wine Under $20 drops by with Serious Grape. This week, she "drinks" the words of historic wines. My new wine addiction isn't about drinking—it's about reading. These days, my favorite glass each day is the wine I'm drinking vicariously through the reviews of Michael Broadbent, quite possibly the world's most distinguished and experienced taster. You may know of Robert Parker, founder of The Wine Advocate. You also may recognize the name Marvin Shanken, who founded The Wine Spectator. But you've probably never heard of Broadbent. That's because he tastes and reviews wine that will never touch the lips of most people on this planet. The old stuff. The rare stuff. The stuff of legends...
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Nobody I know of in the West understands more about food in China than Fuchsia Dunlop. The author of two remarkable Chinese cookbooks, Land of Plenty (about Sichuan food), and The Revolutionary Cookbook (about Hunanese cooking), Dunlop was not only the first Westerner to attend the Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine, she spent the better part of the last 14 years traveling through China to explore the food culture. So when her newest book, Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China, was published a few months ago, I knew it was going to be good. I just wasn't prepared for how good. The book is an evocative and emotionally resonant account of her visits to...
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Photo composite by Clay Gordon Celebrating our nation's independence with chocolate? Now that's a revolutionary idea. And, no, I'm not talking about a totally new form of chocolate or a new chocolate flavor, or even about the possibilities that a complete map of the cacao genome might create—I'm talking about the American Revolution and chocolate in observation of tomorrow's 4th of July festivities. Like Father's Day, Independence Day is not one of those holidays where people think a lot about chocolate. First off, it's the middle of summer and if people are thinking about chocolate, it's in a frozen form (milkshakes, ice creams, and the like) as regular chocolate melts and gets messy. Secondly, where's the connection between chocolate...
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David Caminer, who helped develop the world's first business computer, passed away two weeks ago at age 92. What in the world does this have to do with food? As an employee of J. Lyons & Company, Caminer helped the famous British tea shop chain computerize its commercial operations for its over 200 teahouses in London with the LEO (Lyons Electronic Office) computer, which helped do things like standardize cost-effective cups of tea. In other words, a tea company developed their own hardware and software in 1951: LEO performed its first calculation on Nov. 17, 1951, running a program to evaluate costs, prices and margins of that week’s baked output. At that moment, Lyons was years ahead of I.B.M. and...
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The New Yorker's Joan Acocella spends more than 5,000 words dissecting the hangover. As she eloquently points out, "it is a preventable malady: don't drink." But beyond abstinence, other popular cures include peanut butter in Africa, chilies in Mexico, pickle juice in Russia and greasy, fried whatever everywhere else in the world. Read what triggers the bed spins and tummy aches in the Annals of Drinking. Or just scan our favorite shots of wisdom from the piece, after the jump....
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I know what you’re thinking. “Acorns? Why on earth is she talking about acorns? The weather’s just getting nice and balmy, and she’s featuring autumnal nuts? Bah humbug… it’s spring!” And so it is. But I promise you, this is a very springy kind of dish. It’s refreshing on a warm, sunny day, light on the palate, easy on the eye (and wallet), and will leave you feeling decidedly sprightly.
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-->Here is a food memory: I am ten years old. My best friend and I are standing at the take-out window of our local ice cream parlor. We are wearing matching jean skirts and Minnie Mouse T-shirts. We have both ordered cones of cookies 'n' cream. The waitress disappears and reemerges a few minutes later with a cone in each hand. The scoop on the right is encrusted with huge chunks of Oreos, like chocolate meteors. The scoop on the left has clearly come from the bottom of another barrel—it is mostly vanilla, dotted only here and there with crumbs. My best friend and I begin to wiggle and squirm, bumping into each other as we vie for the better...
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The media ploy and slow-crawl retooling continues: after years of over-roasting coffee for its dark, bitter brew, Starbucks has
listened to the people and will switch to a more "everyday blend."
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The whisk is more than a tool for aeration. Useful for making sauces, emulsions and more, it is one of the home kitchen’s greatest multitaskers. Here is some information for selecting and making the most of this apparatus, which dates to medieval times.
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